Student Action Senator Sahana Rajasekar announced Wednesday night at the first meeting of the semester that she will be leaving the ASUC Senate, citing issues with her health.
“I’m an EECS major and I’m a senator and I’ve been really involved, but because of all of the time I’m putting into both, my health got worse,“ Rajasekar said in her farewell speech to the senate. “This is one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make.”
Rajasekar ran on a platform promising students better mental health resources, free computer repair and better cellphone service in engineering buildings.
“I tried to take a step back from my school work and the senate so I could do both,” Rajasekar said. “I started not doing as well in my school work, and I felt that I wasn’t doing the senate position justice. I talked to my parents and my doctors, and we all decided it was better for me to work on my health first before I took on other extracurriculars.”
Nils Gilbertson, a Student Action party member who ran in last year’s senate race, said that he has been invited to take the position.
“They’ve contacted me, and I more or less said I’m leaning towards it, but I haven’t made a final decision,” Gilbert said.
According to the ASUC Constitution, the person who received the greatest number of votes and who did not win a senate seat will fill the vacated office.
Fellow senator and CalSERVE party member Megan Majd spoke highly of Rajasekar’s work.
“Sahana is truly an amazing individual and is a wonderful friend off and on the senate floor, she always put her constituents first and has really made an impact on the engineering community,” Majd said in an email.
Academic Affairs Vice President Natalie Gavello spoke to Rajasekar’s work ethic and determination in juggling school and senate work.
“In addition to being an EECS major (and) a member of the Greek system, she still made time to go above and beyond her duties as a senator,” Gavello said. “Working to increase Bechtel library hours, as well as mental health issues, were only a few of the many things I saw Sahana do in her several months as a senator.”
Rajasekar said she plans to stay as involved as possible, especially by continuing her work to keep the engineering library open 24/7.
“That’s the part about this that makes me feel better,” Rajasekar said. “You don’t need to be a senator to make changes in the school. It’s going to be more time for me to do things, and it will allow me to be healthy as well.”
Ally Rondoni is the lead ASUC reporter. Contact her at [email protected].